****************************************************
GO UCONN!!!!!
***********************************************
Well, those 10 weeks went fast!!! It was great being in the warm weather. Plenty of golf, hanging out at the pool, spending time with my son and daughter-in-law and my two beautiful granddaughters.
Thank goodness for the Foxsports App. I got to watch plenty of UConn games live.
So heading home Wednesday. The car has been shipped. Time to turn the heat back up in my Condo!!
**************************************************
GAMES
No Games
**************************************************
Straight from the Dog
My friend Linkster/Alydar had some great thoughts about the team and they certainly arev worth sharing.
Just a few observations about what's ahead.
I've waited several years to see UConn's splash sisters play together. I think that by now most recognize that Fudd and Bueckers are at about the same level. They are both money players with pro skills and for what it's worth they are both hungry to play and have fresh legs. They are well-suited to each other, one being a creative genius and facilitator and the other a disciplined player who lives to shoot. And they are both great passers so the attention that it would take to shut these two down would leave others alone under the basket or behind the arc.
Four seniors. A huge edge in a FF. Freshmen often wilt under the pressure but seniors somehow keep their cool. Maybe it's that they are playing what would be their last game if they lost.
How do you scheme for a team that hasn't yet played their star more than 2 games for 15 minutes? There's no film to break down. Not a lot on Fudd either. And if Geno plays the BET with his standard offenses and defenses NCAA opponents won't have much to work with. UConn could put in some wrinkles that would be a big surprise in the E8 or the FF.
UConn has the psychological edge of being the underdog. The season has been hell. Maybe not the lower levels but still hell. Right now it's hard to imagine not having Bueckers, Fudd, Muhl and lately Ducharme.
Depth at last has let UConn turned up the pressure on defense. They are now forcing offenses to react to them. Most of that is due to them having 9 players to rotate, and 6 guards who are all good enough to start most places.
Three mobile posts. This was missing last year. Juhasz means that Geno can keep 2 on the court against teams like SCar/Tenn/Baylor. And now there are 15 post fouls to give instead of 10.
I've waited several years to see UConn's splash sisters play together. I think that by now most recognize that Fudd and Bueckers are at about the same level. They are both money players with pro skills and for what it's worth they are both hungry to play and have fresh legs. They are well-suited to each other, one being a creative genius and facilitator and the other a disciplined player who lives to shoot. And they are both great passers so the attention that it would take to shut these two down would leave others alone under the basket or behind the arc.
Four seniors. A huge edge in a FF. Freshmen often wilt under the pressure but seniors somehow keep their cool. Maybe it's that they are playing what would be their last game if they lost.
How do you scheme for a team that hasn't yet played their star more than 2 games for 15 minutes? There's no film to break down. Not a lot on Fudd either. And if Geno plays the BET with his standard offenses and defenses NCAA opponents won't have much to work with. UConn could put in some wrinkles that would be a big surprise in the E8 or the FF.
UConn has the psychological edge of being the underdog. The season has been hell. Maybe not the lower levels but still hell. Right now it's hard to imagine not having Bueckers, Fudd, Muhl and lately Ducharme.
Depth at last has let UConn turned up the pressure on defense. They are now forcing offenses to react to them. Most of that is due to them having 9 players to rotate, and 6 guards who are all good enough to start most places.
Three mobile posts. This was missing last year. Juhasz means that Geno can keep 2 on the court against teams like SCar/Tenn/Baylor. And now there are 15 post fouls to give instead of 10.
______________________________________________
The Orange idiots are showing their UConn hate in many ways.
"Feel sure UConn will weasel their way to a 2 seed. Don’t know what that would do to the brackets."
Yeah, weasel their way to a 2 seed. How would they even do that? Such a stupid statement.
And after a tweet about the Athletic article about Paige Bueckers.....
"I wish to God I didn't find her so annoyingly obnoxious. I really do."
and
"I thought I was the only one that thought that. She really is obnoxious."
Pathetic. And more Paige Hate.
"Definitely not the only one. I find her obnoxious as well. Not well spoken either. I just don’t think she’s the best representative for the sport. Clark is comparatively more entertaining to watch and it much more well spoken in interviews. Bueckers fans are mostly teenage girls so I guess that’s kinda good for game, but kids don’t spend money. Which her sponsors will soon find out. I’ve yet to hear an adult bring up her name to me. I’ve had random people ask if I had seen highlights of that girl from Iowa though…"
Wow, talk about a hater. Only teenage girls are her fans? First of all, how does he know that? And secondly, it's not true. These people are so pathetic.
********************************************************
Last two games
In the following list the first entry is the team name, the next entry is the record of the last two games, the next entry is the number of points scored relative to expectations and if there is an entry after that it’s the remaining games.
So for example NC State is one of the top four seeds, they were 2-0 in their last two games, and they outscored the opposition by 14 points (combined) more than they were expected to win by.
• South Carolina 2-0 27
• Stanford 2-0 -27
• NC State 2-0 14
• Louisville 2-0 16
• Baylor 2-0 23 Texas Tech
• Iowa State 1-1 -23 West Virginia
• LSU 2-0 -3
• Iowa State 1-1 -23 West Virginia
• LSU 2-0 -3
• Michigan 1-1 -21
• UConn 2-0 58
• Texas 2-0 18 Kansas Oklahoma State
• Arizona 1-1 -29
• Arizona 1-1 -29
• Maryland 1-1 -13
• Tennessee 1-1 12
• Iowa 1-1 -13
• Indiana 0-2 6
• Indiana 0-2 6
• Oklahoma 2-0 21 Oklahoma State Kansas
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Admittedly, the last two games by UConn were not played against stellar competition. But that’s where the expected margin of victory came in. UConn didn’t beat those two teams by a combined 58 points, they scored 58 points more than they were expected to win by. That’s by far the largest number in the list with South Carolina in second place with 27.
Three of the one seeds won both games and outperformed expectations. Stanford is the only one seed that underperformed expectations and by 27 points which is quite a few. Two of the two seeds Baylor and Texas were undefeated and outperformed expectations. Two of these seeds Michigan and Iowa State split the two games and underperformed by 21 and 23 points respectively.
Among the three seeds, Oklahoma and UConn and LSU were undefeated but only Oklahoma and UConn outperformed expectations, with UConn doing much better than Oklahoma. Arizona split their two games and underperformed expectations by 29 points.
In the four seeds no one was undefeated with Indiana losing both while Tennessee, Maryland, and Notre Dame split both. Maryland and Notre Dame underperformed by 13 points apiece while Tennessee and surprisingly Indiana managed to outperform expectations but by small margins, 12 and six points respectively.
In the latest reveal, they have LSU, Baylor, Michigan and Iowa State as 2 seeds ahead of UConn. LSU did okay winning both games while scoring very close to expectations. Baylor is in decent shape winning both games and outperforming expectations. But both Michigan and Iowa State both lost again and both scored less than expectations by 21 and 23 points respectively.
While UConn was expected to win both games, compared to Michigan and Iowa State UConn was 79 and 81 points better over two games or about 40 per game. UConn has significantly improved relative to Michigan and Iowa State.
Let’s start with the elephant in the room. Admittedly, the last two games by UConn were not played against stellar competition. But that’s where the expected margin of victory came in. UConn didn’t beat those two teams by a combined 58 points, they scored 58 points more than they were expected to win by. That’s by far the largest number in the list with South Carolina in second place with 27.
Three of the one seeds won both games and outperformed expectations. Stanford is the only one seed that underperformed expectations and by 27 points which is quite a few. Two of the two seeds Baylor and Texas were undefeated and outperformed expectations. Two of these seeds Michigan and Iowa State split the two games and underperformed by 21 and 23 points respectively.
Among the three seeds, Oklahoma and UConn and LSU were undefeated but only Oklahoma and UConn outperformed expectations, with UConn doing much better than Oklahoma. Arizona split their two games and underperformed expectations by 29 points.
In the four seeds no one was undefeated with Indiana losing both while Tennessee, Maryland, and Notre Dame split both. Maryland and Notre Dame underperformed by 13 points apiece while Tennessee and surprisingly Indiana managed to outperform expectations but by small margins, 12 and six points respectively.
In the latest reveal, they have LSU, Baylor, Michigan and Iowa State as 2 seeds ahead of UConn. LSU did okay winning both games while scoring very close to expectations. Baylor is in decent shape winning both games and outperforming expectations. But both Michigan and Iowa State both lost again and both scored less than expectations by 21 and 23 points respectively.
While UConn was expected to win both games, compared to Michigan and Iowa State UConn was 79 and 81 points better over two games or about 40 per game. UConn has significantly improved relative to Michigan and Iowa State.
********************************************************
By David in Naples
UConn's strangest statistic......
There are actually several weird ones, but this stood out to me.... Nika Muhl has played 574 minutes and has exactly 4 free throw tries and 1 made shot from the charity stripe. Piath Gabriel has played 57 minutes and has 8 tries and 5 makes. 
On the other hand, Nika has 6 blocked shots and Piath has 0. Strange....
On the other hand, Nika has 6 blocked shots and Piath has 0. Strange....**************************************************
Here is an option for any contributions for my time in putting together this blog.
I'm not requiring the contribution in order to read the blog. It's totally voluntary. And I'm not recommending how much to donate or how often.
Thanks to all my loyal readers!!!
If you don't have Venmo, you can sign up here
or add the app to your iPhone or iPad.
And here is another option that is being pushed by Paige!!
********************************************************
UCONN LINKS
Several links are pay sites. Sorry!
Predicting the 2022 BE Awards Anonomous Eagle
It's time to fear the UConn women NH Register
How Bueckers plans to use NIL platform to help women The Athletic
Bracket Reveal doesn't have UConn in Bridgeport Journal Inquirer
********************************************************
Message Boards
UConn Territory - The best UConn women's message board ever!!!
Vol Nation - Tennessee women's basketball board
ND Nation - Notre Dame women's basketball board
Rebkell - WCBB for everyone that thinks they are smarter than everyone else
I'm always open for suggestions. Just please reply to this blog or email me at:
No comments:
Post a Comment